The Town Hall (New York City)

Not to be confused with New York City Hall.

The Town Hall
Map
Address123 West 43rd Street
Manhattan, New York City
United States
Coordinates40°45′22″N 73°59′05″W / 40.7560°N 73.9847°W / 40.7560; -73.9847
OwnerTown Hall Foundation, Inc.
Capacity1,495
Construction
Built1919
OpenedJanuary 12, 1921 (103 years ago) (1921-01-12)
Years active1921–present
ArchitectTeunis J. van der Bent of McKim, Mead & White
Website
the-townhall-nyc.org
Town Hall
New York City Landmark No. 1011, 1012
Area12,563 square feet (1,167.1 m2)
Architectural styleLate 19th and 20th century revivals,[1]
Neo-Federal[2]
NRHP reference No.80002724[1]
NYSRHP No.06101.001777
NYCL No.1011, 1012
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 23, 1980
Designated NHLMarch 2, 2012
Designated NYSRHPJune 23, 1980[3]
Designated NYCLNovember 28, 1978[2]

The Town Hall (also Town Hall[a]) is a performance space at 123 West 43rd Street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue near Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was built from 1919 to 1921 and designed by architects McKim, Mead & White for the League for Political Education. The auditorium has 1,500 seats across two levels and has historically been used for various events, such as speeches, musical recitals, concerts, and film screenings. Both the exterior and interior of the building are New York City landmarks, and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark.

Town Hall was designed in the Georgian Revival style and has a brick facade with limestone trim. The base contains seven arched doorways that serve as the venue's entrance. The facade of the upper stories contains a large limestone plaque, niches, and windows. Inside the ground story, a rectangular lobby leads to the auditorium. The upper stories originally housed offices for the League for Political Education the Civic Forum, the Economic Club, and the Town Hall Club.

Town Hall's auditorium opened on January 12, 1921, and was originally intended as a place for speeches, but Town Hall subsequently became one of New York City's top musical venues in its 20th-century heyday. The first public-affairs media programming, the America's Town Meeting of the Air radio program, broadcast from Town Hall between 1935 and 1956. New York University (NYU) leased Town Hall afterward, but the venue began to decline in popularity during the 1950s and 1960s. NYU closed the auditorium in 1978 due to financial shortfalls, and Town Hall was then renovated and reopened as a performance venue by the Town Hall Foundation.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nris was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1978, p. 1; Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior 1978, p. 1.
  3. ^ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Town Hall 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYCL p. 1; NPS p. 3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Listokin p. 87 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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